Bloomberg States Case, Emphatically and Personally, for Same-Sex Marriage

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, declaring that “near-equality is no equality” for gay couples, delivered an uncharacteristically forceful and sweeping speech on Thursday in which he called on New York to “lead the American journey forward” by legalizing same-sex marriage this year.

Directly addressing an issue that is roiling the State Legislature in the final weeks of its annual session, Mr. Bloomberg said that the state’s inaction on same-sex marriage was incompatible with its long history of promoting freedom and tolerance. He invoked the riot at the Stonewall Inn in the West Village almost 42 years ago, widely viewed as the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, as an example of the role that New Yorkers can play in shaping history.

“We are the freest city in the freest country in the world — but freedom is not frozen in time,” he told a crowd of about 200 at the Cooper Union in downtown Manhattan.

Mr. Bloomberg has no direct control over state legislation, but he wields influence as a generous campaign donor, especially to Republicans, and his decision to repeatedly weigh in on the marriage debate this year suggests that the issue has become a priority for him.

Even as same-sex marriage has become a popular cause for elected officials and celebrities in New York, Mr. Bloomberg has emerged as a particularly important advocate given his visibility, wealth and longtime support for conservative politicians. Last week he went to Albany to lobby Republican senators, and on Wednesday he hosted a star-studded fund-raiser for gay rights advocates at the Upper East Side headquarters of his foundation.

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Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at the Cooper Union on Thursday. He was introduced by a niece, Rachel Tiven, who is gay.Credit
James Estrin/The New York Times

In his speech on Thursday, Mr. Bloomberg reiterated his call for the State Legislature to vote on same-sex marriage before the legislative session ends in June, arguing that New Yorkers “deserve to know where our elected officials stand on this historic issue.” That stance has put him at odds with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat who also supports same-sex marriage, but who has said he would not seek a vote unless he is confident that the measure would pass.

The State Assembly, controlled by Democrats, has endorsed same-sex marriage several times in the past, but the State Senate, controlled by Republicans, has not. So far, advocates appear no closer to prevailing this year than the last time the Senate took up the issue, in late 2009.

The tone of the speech was unusually personal for a mayor known for dispassionate number-crunching and policy analysis. Mr. Bloomberg was introduced by a niece, Rachel Tiven, who is gay. At one point, he said that he had grown tired of trying to explain to gay friends, relatives and staff members why the government was denying them the right to wed.

“I see the pain that the status quo is causing, and I cannot defend it,” he said.

Mr. Bloomberg seemed at times to be speaking directly to the handful of lawmakers, most of them Republican state senators, whose vote will prove decisive this legislative session.

He somberly warned them that opposing same-sex marriage would place them in league with those who fought civil rights measures in the past.

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State Senator Thomas K. Duane and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, to his right in glasses, both advocates of same-sex marriage.Credit
James Estrin/The New York Times

“On matters of freedom and equality, history has not remembered obstructionists kindly,” he said. “Not on abolition. Not on women’s suffrage. Not on workers’ rights. Not on civil rights. And it will be no different on marriage rights.”

Mr. Bloomberg, like many politicians, has changed his views over time on this issue. In 2003, when he was a Republican, he told reporters: “I think I’ll stay out of the marriage business. I’ve got other things to worry about.” Since then, he has become an independent, and he supported same-sex marriage in 2009.

Mr. Bloomberg argued in his speech Thursday that supporting same-sex marriage was consistent with conservative principles of limited government and personal liberty. Conservatives, he said, “believe that government should not stand in the way of free markets and private associations — including contracts between consenting parties.”

“And that’s exactly what marriage is,” he added. “A contract, a legal bond, between two adults who vow to support one another, in sickness and in health.”

Opponents of same-sex marriage say that the mayor is disconnected from most New York voters, who they say are uneager to see marriage redefined.

“It isn’t connected with reality, what the mayor is trying to sell,” said Brian S. Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex unions.

A version of this article appears in print on May 27, 2011, on page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: Mayor States Case, Emphatically and Personally, for Gay Marriage. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe